| Project
CEMENT: Connecting English and Mathematics Educators via New Technologies
Gian Pagnucci & Edel Reilly
Project Phases
Project CEMENT will involve the
following phases of collaboration by the participants.
Phase 1--Graduate Teams: Background
Research and Writing Assignment Creation (Weeks 1 and 2)
Project CEMENT will begin with pairs of graduate students each
selecting one of the project research foci. These graduate students will
do some background reading on their chosen topic. Then the graduate
students will design 2 different writing assignment for teams of
undergraduate students taking part in the project. Both writing
assignments will be variations of the graduate team's chosen research
topic (in other words, the assignments are meant to help the
undergraduate students envision 2 different ways to write about the
chosen research topic). These writing assignments will be posted on the
Internet and linked to the Project CEMENT web site.
Each graduate team (of 2 members)
should locate 3 journal articles on their assigned research topic which
can be shared via pdf file. The graduate teams should also identify 2
web sites with information on the research topic. The same articles and
web sites can be used for both writing prompts created by the graduate
teams for the research topic.
Finally, each graduate team should
create a basic assessment rubric which can be shared with the
undergraduate student teams to show them how the paper will be assessed.
These rubrics will also be posted on the Internet.
Writing Assignment Guidelines
As with the graduate students, the undergraduate student
participants in Project CEMENT will be working in teams, either of 3
or 4 students. These undergraduate students will be asked to write a
group paper responding to a prompt created by the graduate student
participants of Project CEMENT. This group paper should discuss
the assigned topic in some depth. The paper may be argumentative in
nature or more exploratory of issues facing teachers. The final
version of this paper should be 4-6 pages long (double spaced). The audience
for the paper should be aimed primarily at other undergraduate
beginning teachers (i.e. the undergraduate students should be trying
to write for other students like themselves). These writing
assignments should also call for integrating the materials the
students will have read about the assigned topic (additional outside
reading should not be necessary).
Phase 2--Undergraduate Teams:
Reading and Paper Drafting (Weeks 3-5)
After forming teams, the undergraduate students will be assigned
research topics and will review the online materials posted by the
graduate teams. Next the undergraduate teams will read the assigned
materials. Then the undergraduate teams will collaboratively write a
draft of their paper. The undergraduate teams should revise their paper
to make the draft as strong as possible. All team members should be
making contributions to the paper. Once each undergraduate team
completes its paper draft, the team should send the paper by email
attachment to the Project CEMENT Co-Directors. The Co-Directors will
then send the papers on to the appropriate graduate teams.
To facilitate interaction between the
graduate and undergraduate teams, a blog will be used for online
interaction. Participation in the blog will be optional.
Phase 3--Graduate Teams: Paper
Feedback (Weeks 6 and 7)
During this project phase, the graduate teams will write responses
to the paper drafts by the undergraduate teams. Each graduate team will
be responding to 2 or 3 papers. Responses should aim to be both
constructive and supportive, bearing in mind that many of the
undergraduates are fairly novice writers. The responses should also give
an indication of how well the paper's appear in terms of the established
assessment rubric. Once the graduate teams complete their feedback, they
should send the feedback by email to the Project CEMENT Co-Directors.
The Co-Directors will then send the feedback on to the appropriate
undergraduate teams.
Phase 4--Undergraduate Teams: Paper
Revising (Weeks 8 and 9)
Upon receiving the initial graduate team feedback, the undergraduate
teams should work collaboratively to revise their papers. Once each
undergraduate team completes its final paper draft, the team should send
the paper by email attachment to the Project CEMENT Co-Directors. The
Co-Directors will then send the papers on to the appropriate graduate
teams for final assessment.
Phase 5--Graduate Teams: Paper
Assessment (Weeks 10-11)
During this project phase, the graduate teams will use their rubrics
to create a final assessment of the undergraduate team papers. Again,
each graduate team will be assessing 2 or 3 papers. Final assessments
should aim to provide a fair judgment of the paper's overall success.
All undergraduate members of a team will receive the same grade. These
grades will be included as part of the undergraduate students' overall
course grade, though of course this is not the only grade which the
undergraduate students will be receiving. (In very exceptional
circumstances, the Project Co-Directors reserve the right to adjust
assessments if they deem it necessary, though the Co-Directors will
avoid this if at all possible.)
Once the graduate teams complete their
final assessment, they should send the feedback by email to the Project
CEMENT Co-Directors. The Co-Directors will then send the assessment on
to the appropriate undergraduate teams.
Phase 6--Undergraduate and Graduate
Teams: Reflection (Week 12-13)
After completing the papers and their assessments, all Project
CEMENT participants will be asked to do some reflective writing about
the project. Participants will received some writing prompts for this
reflective writing. The participants will also be asked to fill out a
survey assessing the project.
Phase 7--Undergraduate and Graduate
Teams: Party Time! (Week 14)
Assuming everything goes as planned, all the students will be
brought together for a pizza party. This party will be an opportunity
for the student teams to meet each other, to share their reflections
about the process, and to offer suggestions for improving the project
for future students. Since the project involves some degree of work,
this meeting is also a chance to celebrate everyone's accomplishments.
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